FOUND Water Week
Best outdoor swims, best swimwear, Baltic Seafood, Vraic, Henley Royal Regatta, the lilo of our dreams, MORE
GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
Swimwear
Farm Rio banana flower swimsuit, £182, if Carmen Miranda opened a beachside boutique, she’d stock this colourful collection w/ parrots, bananas, tropical flowers
Hunza G Katya UPF 50+ swimsuit, £165, worthy of Baywatch-era Pamela Anderson, from cult brand known for crinkle fabric that stretches to fit most body shapes, see also this season’s Burberry collab
Reina Olga Brigitte bikini, £137, go-to for Italian bombshell energy
Boden Rhodes cup-sized swimsuit, £53.40, somewhat forgotten high-street brand experiencing renaissance, this Pucci-esque swimsuit is a standout
Wolf & Badger crossing reversible one-piece £157, (above), 2 gorgeous swimsuits for price of 1, w/ matching reversible accessories like headscarves and cover-up skirts, game-changer for packing lightly
Pjerino Emperatriz one-piece, £123, Versace-leaning black costume for poolside glamour w/ a baroque edge
Rigby & Peller Sarda swim sha, £166, impossible to miss, available in a wide range of cup sizes, impeccable fit
Flannels Jean Paul Gauthier wet look effect swimsuit, £139, trompe l’oeil design, available w/ matching items
Oceanus Pandora luxe hand-beaded black swimsuit, £380, eye-catching, w/ beads that catch the sunlight beautifully while sunbathing
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
Zone 2 staycation
Sometimes, however much you want it, you just can’t go on holiday. But on those days when you really need it, holiday can come to you. Enter Baltic Seafood.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Making waves
ERIN KENNEDY OBE • Team GB Paralympic & world champion coxswain
Neighbourhood you work & live in: Henley-on-Thames
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
My workplace changes by the hour. At 7a, you’ll find me on the water at Leander Club, coxing a crew, then in the gym lifting weights. By lunchtime, I might be recording a podcast, preparing a keynote speech, meeting with clients or working from my home office in Henley-on-Thames. Having recently stepped back from international rowing after almost a decade representing Great Britain, I’m now focused on public speaking, broadcasting and advocacy work. It’s a varied, fast-paced schedule, and that’s exactly how I like it.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Today, there’s a slightly more adventurous item on the agenda. I’m getting ready for an upcoming CoppaFeel! fundraising trek, where I’ll be heading to China alongside more than 120 incredible people to raise money and awareness for a cause that’s very close to my heart, following my breast cancer diagnosis in 2022. This means fitting in training walks around rowing and checking off kit lists. Today, I’m heading out to buy a new pair of walking boots to break in before the adventure begins.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I love picky food, so tapas or Mexican are always high on my list. I’m heading to Los Molinos near Hammersmith shortly, as it’s one of my favourites. I recently went to 1910 Parsons Green, which was fantastic, with cocktails as good as the food. If I’m staying local, The Golden Ball in Lower Assendon is divine, with a really small menu. Then there’s The Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. We liked the food so much, we got married there!
How about a little leisure or culture?
You’ll always find me at a sports event; there’s something about it that I’m addicted to, and it brings people together. Henley Royal Regatta is around the corner [30/06–05/07], and the town explodes with rowers and pop-ups – there’s such a buzz. The week after, the town hosts a black-tie evening festival (I know, so Henley) with acts performing on a floating stage. The river is stacked full of boats, the banks are heaving with revellers, and it all ends with an incredible firework display – my favourite few weeks of the year.
Any weekend getaways?
My husband’s brother lives near Bude in Cornwall, and we take any excuse to head down there for a weekend to soak up the beaches, the food and the company. We’re all super close and it feels like such a treat to spend time together. One of our favourite restaurants is The Port William, just above Trebarwith Strand – the views never disappoint. Slightly further down the coast is the incredible Schooners. Great small plates and crashing waves – what’s not to love?
What was your last great holiday?
My husband and I recently spent a few weeks in India, which was incredible – wonderful people, insanely good food and a beautiful country to explore. In Mumbai, we stayed in Abode Bombay, a little sanctuary in the heart of the city. The best thing we did all trip was a food tour in Jaipur. We went back to every stop at least once, and Vinayak made sure everywhere we visited was safe to eat for our soft Western constitutions! We then stayed in the most tranquil place on earth, Anopura.
Where are you donating your time or money?
CoppaFeel!, a charity dedicated to the early detection of breast cancer through education, awareness and encouraging people to check their chests regularly. Since my own breast cancer diagnosis, I’ve been proud to support CoppaFeel! as an ambassador, speaker and trek leader, helping to raise awareness and encourage people to know their bodies and seek help if something feels unusual.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Yacht-club glam
Summer purchases fall into two camps: tat you lose by August, and things you look forward to digging out year after year. The Oliver James Double II Regatta sits firmly in the latter category, making the packing away of summer even sadder. Yes, it’s an inflatable lilo, and it’s also extravagant, with the double model coming in at a cool £1430.
There are two ways to think about it, with the first, of course, being that it’s ridiculous. The second is that most luxury purchases are tinged with ridiculousness. Nobody blinks at a designer lamp, a cashmere throw or hand-built furniture, despite all three performing broadly the same function as far cheaper alternatives. The difference lies in design, materials, craftsmanship and, perhaps most importantly, the pleasure of ownership. And, unlike the fluorescent plastic eyesores that emerge from supermarket aisles every June and end up in landfill by July, this is built to last.
Oliver James lilos are designed as high-end furniture, gracing the pools of some of the world’s top hotels. It’s easy to see why: the comfort is unparalleled, the proportions are generous, the construction substantial (no chance of a puncture; would need a tsunami to knock you off it), tied up with yacht-club aesthetic in a range of styles. Its sole purpose is to make doing absolutely nothing feel even more luxurious. With more than enough room for two adults, it’s also romantic, transforming what is usually a solitary activity.
I imagine having it in the cupboard over the colder months is the material equivalent of booking a trip months in advance: a holiday you can look forward to year after year, ready to reappear with every first genuinely hot weekend of the summer, as decadent and desirable as the day it arrived. –Amy-Rose Holland
→ SHOP: Regatta (Oliver James Lilos) • From £1200 for a single.
GETAWAYS • Guernsey
Island life
It’s 6a on a Friday in Gatwick Airport and throngs of travellers are already pounding pints. Everyone’s rowdy, jetting off to Prague or Tenerife for a weekend of debauchery. Not me: I’m taking a more civilised flight to Guernsey, the small island in the English Channel where the sea is visible from almost everywhere.
It’s a short flight, less than an hour, but salt air and lush, green landscape make it feel much farther away from London than it seems. The distance is perfect for a day out of the city to experience Guernsey’s most exciting new culinary offering.
Vraic, opened last summer by ex-Ynyshir head chef Nathan Davies, is located along one of Guernsey’s endless coasts, nestled against a sandy beach where the chefs forage for seaweed daily. It’s a celebration of the island’s ingredients, from the more than 700 types of seaweed to the prized dairy cows to the locally caught fish, including lobster and turbot. It’s also a celebration of the sea itself, both in the flavours and in the serene location, where guests are welcome on the terrace for a post-meal drink. The building was once a bistro and before that a tea room, but it’s better suited to fine dining, where the place becomes part of the menu.
The meal, offered for lunch and dinner as a 10-course tasting menu, marries Davies’ Welsh background with his newfound love for Guernsey. The most humble but also the most memorable dish is a seaweed broth featuring eight varieties of local seaweed pulled off the beach earlier in the day. It’s rich, umami, filled with texture and deceptively complex. Dishes rotate seasonally, but always showcase what can be found on the land and in the water nearby. Very little comes from beyond the island, and what does is brought in for good reason, like the heritage Welsh grain that the chefs mill into bread to serve alongside whipped miso butter and beef drippings.
After lunch, which lasts a leisurely but airtight three hours, a taxi is waiting to take me back to the airport for the short flight back to London. From the air, I can see Guernsey’s verdant fields and old glasshouses, where many of Vraic’s ingredients are grown. It may seem crazy to fly across the water just to eat lunch, but it’s worth it for the seaweed alone. –Emily Zemler
→ Vraic (Guernsey) • Mont Cuet Rd • Wed-Thu 630-1130p, Fri 12-430p & 630-1130p, Sat 1230-430p & 630-1130p • Book.
CULTURE & LEISURE • The Nines
Outdoor swims
Brockwell Lido (Herne Hill), 50m unheated pool surrounded by Art Deco buildings w/ great selection of restaurants nearby incl. Llewelyn’s, Sessa, book